Final Report for the 10 to 100 Gigabit/Second Networking Laboratory Directed Research and Development Project

The next major performance plateau for high-speed, long-haul networks is at 10 Gbps. Data visualization, high performance network storage, and Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) demand these (and higher) communication rates. MPP-to-MPP distributed processing applications and MPP-to-Network File Store applications already require single conversation communication rates in the range of 10 to 100 Gbps. MPP-to-Visualization Station applications can already utilize communication rates in the 1 to 10 Gbps range. This LDRD project examined some of the building blocks necessary for developing a 10 to 100 Gbps computer network architecture. These included technology areas such as, OS Bypass, Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), IP switching and routing, Optical Amplifiers, Inverse Multiplexing of ATM, data encryption, and data compression; standards bodies activities in the ATM Forum and the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF); and proof-of-principle laboratory prototypes. This work has not only advanced the body of knowledge in the aforementioned areas, but has generally facilitated the rapid maturation of high-speed networking and communication technology by: (1) participating in the development of pertinent standards, and (2) by promoting informal (and formal) collaboration with industrial developers of high speed communication equipment